Pottery Barn vs Ikea: High-Low Decorating Sources

I am nothing if not stubborn.  I drool over catalogs and then weep over the prices in them… it’s like shopping with Sybil.   But after I dry my tears, the decorating search begins.   Buying champagne on a beer budget isn’t easy, but it’s become a fun challenge for me!  I love Pottery Barn, and get so much inspiration from it, but most of the time I need to find a less expensive option… enter Ikea.

Guest bedrooms have been on my mind lately, so I decided to make an inspiration board of my fave Pottery Barn choices… For a Grand Total of… wait for it… $3882.00…

| Bedding | Rug | Chest | Mirror | Trunk | Chair |

So… I’m super in love with it all… but for fear of my husband keeling over… I had better find some alternatives.  Enter Ikea… for a Grand Total of… $915… for all of you trying to do the math in your head… that’s $2967 Cheaper! (and no, I don’t do math in my head either)

| Bedding | Rug | Chest | Trunk | Navy Accent Pillows | Green Accent Pillow | Floral Pillow | Chair | Mirror |

Now in a perfect world, I would combine the two.   A little bit of Pottery Barn combined with a bit of Ikea- like the Pottery Barn bedding is to die for and happens to be on sale- so I might grab that- but then get the chest from Ikea because I absolutely LOVE it!

I love the hunt! Here is a side by side comparison and honestly, I really do love both of these inspiration boards!

Pin below for sources later!

The biggest key to finding similar items for less is to zero in on what you actually love about the room or items.  For me, it was the colors in the bedding and then the warmth and texture of the wood and rug.  So even though Ikea didn’t have bedding that exactly matched the Pottery Barn bedding, I pulled the colors that I loved in with cheap accent pillows on top of a neutral but interesting duvet, which is actually better for the future because I can switch out pillows easily to change things up!  And the chest and rug were both pieces that were fairly simple to replicate-  I just looked for those pretty edges and similarities in wood tones.

Thoughts? Do you like one better than the other? Do you hate both? No, don’t tell me.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

xoxo

B